# Free Live Free, the unnamed city

*The Urth list — 2 messages, 2 voices, 02 Dec 2002*

<https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/3635>

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### Michael Andre-Driussi
*02 Dec 2002, 15:30*

> Roy wrote:
> But I think you're looking in the
> wrong place for the city. It's not in the Midwest, if it exists at all; it's
> on the East Coast. I have only the Tor paperback, so I don't know the HC
> page number, but on the second page of chapter 59 Free looks out the window
> of the cockpit and sees the "tossing waters of the Atlantic".

Good catch!  That does narrow things down quite a bit.

> The _High Country_ doesn't stray from protected US airspace--that's why it
> was built. It seems to circle, more or less; at least it doesn't seem to
> ever be out of a short-range flight of the shuttle B-17, and the B-17 takes
> off and lands from the old military base near the modern airport.

I agree, but rather than "circle" I think it more kind of hovers.  (For the
time travel from High Country 1942 to High Country 1952, I think it really
has to be as "in place" as a building on the ground.  It is in a
"geo-synchronous orbit" while still being within the atmosphere.)  There is
that talk of the atmospheric winds blowing from west to east, and gliding.

> And the
> Flying Carpet is near the airport. The flask and the matches point to New
> York City. I don't think that is the city, but the city is probably close to
> NYC. The television commentator said it was a major US city. It's definitely
> not Philadelphia. It's far enough north to get cold and have snow. If the
> shuttle used in 1942 operated under the same conditions as in 1982-3 (never
> too far from _High Country_), then that plane landed at Langley Field,
> Virginia. The high and mighty aboard the _High Country_ probably wanted to
> stay close to the center of government power in Washington DC. The city, if
> it exists, should be between there and NYC, as I see it.

That narrows it down dramatically!  There are not that many major cities
between DC and NYC, and tending toward the coast: Baltimore, Wilmington
(major?), Philadelphia, Atlantic City (major?), and Trenton (major?).

=mantis=

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### Jerry Friedman
*02 Dec 2002, 22:54 · follows Michael Andre-Driussi*

> --- Michael Andre-Driussi <mantis at siriusfiction.com> wrote:
> Roy wrote:

...

>> And the
>> Flying Carpet is near the airport. The flask and the matches point to
>> New
>> York City. I don't think that is the city, but the city is probably
>> close to
>> NYC. The television commentator said it was a major US city. It's
>> definitely
>> not Philadelphia. It's far enough north to get cold and have snow. If
>> the
>> shuttle used in 1942 operated under the same conditions as in 1982-3
>> (never
>> too far from _High Country_), then that plane landed at Langley Field,
>> Virginia. The high and mighty aboard the _High Country_ probably wanted
>> to
>> stay close to the center of government power in Washington DC. The
>> city, if
>> it exists, should be between there and NYC, as I see it.

> That narrows it down dramatically!  There are not that many major cities
> between DC and NYC, and tending toward the coast: Baltimore, Wilmington
> (major?), Philadelphia, Atlantic City (major?), and Trenton (major?).

I think Newark is a possibility too.  And why not a little bit
north/east of New York?  Say New Haven, or more likely Providence,
home of Lovecraft.  For some reason I always suspected it was B'more,
but that may be only a reflection of my ignorance.

Jerry Friedman

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